Biology 4415/5415

GUIDE TO WRITING LAB REPORTS

Some of the labs that we do in this class simply involve turning in a list of results, filling in a worksheet, or something like that. However, for most of the labs you will have to turn in a formal lab report, whose format may be a bit different from the one you have used in other classes. The format and style of lab writeups that I want you to use closely follows the general style of most scientific papers that present original research.

Format: You must type or word-process your lab reports, print them out in 10-pt or 12-pt type, and turn them in on 8.5"x11" white paper. I prefer laser-printed or inkjet-printed copies, but in view of the current printer situation at UCA, dot-matrix printed reports will be accepted. If you must use dot-matrix printers, do your best to ensure that they are legible: print in a larger font if necessary, and try not to print on a printer that is low on ink. If at all possible, any graphs or charts that are included should also be done on a computer. I will accept hand-drawn graphs and charts, but only if they are:

Like most scientific papers, your lab reports should be divided into several sections. Typically these will be:

Introduction. In a paragraph or two, explain how the experiment works. Give the significance of the experiment you did. State clearly: What hypotheses are being tested? What would you predict the results to be?

Procedure (or Materials and Methods). Explain what you did. Since most of this is in the lab manual, this does not need to be a long section: don't rehash the manual more than absolutely necessary. However, if you did anything differently from what's in the handout, include those changes here. We might run a given exercise several times to look at the effect of various parameters, for example; or we might have to shorten a lab.

Results. Give the results. Describe them verbally and, if applicable, include a data table and/or appropriate graphs at the end of the report.

Discussion. In this section, answer questions such as: Did the experiment test what it was supposed to? Did the results match your prediction? If not, why might it not match? What other factors might have affected your results? How might the experiment be redesigned to better test the hypothesis? How might it be redesigned to examine new hypotheses?

An actual paper might devote several pages to each section. Usually I will be satisfied with a paragraph for each, in part because I've already done a lot of the work for you by writing up the labs in the way that I have. But don't limit yourself to one paragraph if you need more to explain what you've done! If we ended up deviating from the procedure in the lab manual, you should definitely explain what we did that was different, and why.

Some people start each section on a separate sheet of paper. Others have sections follow each other without a page break. Either way is acceptable. (In the "old days" of typewriters, keeping sections on separate pages meant that you didn't have to retype the whole thing if you had to edit just one section. This problem is moot if you use a word processor to write and edit your reports.)

Whichever you choose, you should begin each section with a capitalized and centered heading, like so:

INTRODUCTION

The "modern synthesis" theory of natural selection predicts that changes in gene frequency are most likely when a population is small. In a large population, mutation is ineffective in changing allele frequencies, and. . .

PROCEDURE

We used the computer program Simul8 1.0, running on a Macintosh computer, to simulate changes in allele frequency in a population. The initial settings were. . .

If you have charts, graphs, drawings, original watercolors, etc., include them at the end of the paper. Tables belong in a separate section after the figures; do not include them within the text! Reference each figure and table in the text where it is relevant, like so:

A graph (Figure 3) shows that there was no significant difference between the species after a week. . .

Our raw class data (Table 1) was analyzed using the chi-square test. . .

Label each figure in the order in which it is referred to in the text: Figure 1, Figure 2, etc. Then do the same for tables, labeling each Table 1, Table 2. . . and placing them after the figures.

Style: Good scientific writing walks a fine stylistic line. Its function is to convey complex information clearly and understandably. Excessively informal writing, excessively formal writing, and errors in spelling and grammar get in the way of this function.

Writing Scientific Names: A few special rules apply when you write the formal Latin name of an organism.

Common Blunders: The rules you hated learning in eleventh-grade English are going to come back to haunt you now. Here's just a few tips, based on errors that I see all the time: